‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the League, Not a player was playing, not even Jeff Teague. The matchups were set with the rivalries ripe, Some were historical and some were just hype. “Now, Kobe! now, ‘Bron! now, Dwight and KG! On, Amar’e! on, Rose! on, ‘Melo and KD! From the start of the game! For every loose ball! Now dunk away! Dunk away! Dunk away all!” … Can you tell we’re excited? With no NBA games on the docket last night, we had all day to think about the storylines for today’s action. And one thing in particular we’re looking forward to is copious amounts of buckets. Four of the top five active Christmas Day scoring leaders will be in action, as all eyes will surely be on Kobe Bryant (304), Shaquille O’Neal (270), Dwyane Wade (139) and LeBron James (103). But one interesting tidbit for all you Laker and Heat fans out there hoping today will be a preview of what’s to come in June: teams that have met on Christmas Day have never met in the Finals … Speaking of Kobe and LeBron, while the Mamba hasn’t spoken to the media since his ejection the other night, LeBron had enough to say for the both of them. With both players debuting limited-edition Christmas Day colorways of their signature sneakers, King James said the Nike LeBron 8 (which costs $30 more than the Nike Zoom Kobe VI) is “a better shoe.” But why? “Because it is,” said James. “Because it’s LeBron’s shoe. It’s got my name on it. I take pride in my shoes every year and I’ve always taken pride in having the best shoe. So they’re going to cost a little more if you decide to wear them.” Bernard King scored 60 points on Christmas Day back in 1984. After this, we could see Kobe going for 61 … Some quick thoughts on each game: 1) Speaking of scoring, D-Rose has already registered eight 30-point games for the Bulls this year, equaling his career total coming into the season. Can he go for 30-plus at the Garden? 2) The Magic know that they’re going to have to go through Boston in the playoffs again this year, so how quickly can they get their new squad all on the same page? Ending the Celtics’ 14-game winning streak would go a long way towards reaching their goal.

Join The Discussion

And what’s with all this not wanting to play on xmas crap? What’s next, weekends off too? SMGDH!!!

12.25.10 at 3:04 am

Cha-Ching

Kobe’s x-mas edition sold out. Lebron’s bricks are still available on nike.com. Plenty of Kevin Durant’s left. Lebron talks so reckless to not have a ring. Imagine Charles, Karl Malone, Ewing talking crazy like this back in the day. @Lebron, get you one then talk. Did yall notice that the people with rings don’t say nothing.

12.25.10 at 3:20 am

McSimon

NBA players don’t have right to complain about playing today. They have salaries big enough to forget all problems in the world while counting all that money.

12.25.10 at 3:21 am

McSimon

And Merry Christmas too all of ya!
Even if you’re Portland fan

12.25.10 at 6:36 am

Thestradiosmiles

@Cha-Ching Yeah I mean, of course the cheaper shoe is going to sell out quicker. It costs less.

12.25.10 at 6:51 am

kingblaze

Yo, I was thinking about D Rose.
Everyone loves this mans game right now, yet shoot first pgs were a thing of the past…
When I was coming up, i watched another cat who got major hate for being a ball hog, yet had huge potential.
But at age 22 (Same age as Rose), this guy was leading an up and coming team, who sadly never made it.
D Rose, you are: Stephon Marbury, NJN 99/2000.

Aint it funny how media perception changes everything!
I hope D Rose makes it like Steph never did.
Shoot first PGS are back.
Im out like Marburys mental health!

Happy Christmas all.

King

12.25.10 at 7:37 am

Tizzy

@#6 by that logic KD’s should have sold out too, they’re nice as he’ll and only $88, no?

12.25.10 at 8:15 am

Mike "Yahoo! Exclusive" Mihalow

“top five active Christmas Day scoring leaders”
You mean there’s an actual stat for this? Who keeps track of something this pointless?
And I wasn’t surprised to find no mention here of LeBron’s stupid comments recently. Although I do agree with him that teams shouldn’t have to play on Christmas (I sure as hell wont be watching any games today, or on any past Christmas).

12.25.10 at 8:19 am

AZ

Good read on Christmas morning. Great work Dime and Merry Christmas.

12.25.10 at 9:53 am

Nrod231985

Well just so everyone know the cheapest shoe the KDIII is the one that has very few out there. They didnt make to many and they are all Numbered. So in the long i think these will be the ones to cost the most…

12.25.10 at 11:46 am

knoc99

I really hope Kobe drops 60 on Lebrons mug just for his reckless talk. And i aint even a Kobe fan.

12.25.10 at 11:50 am

QQ

Merry Christmas, cats!

12.25.10 at 11:53 am

s.bucketz

no mention of JeBron Lames contraction talk??sellin out his own peoples after he got his???what a dick…

and allllll JeBron’s shoes have been ass ugly…so have Kobe’s until the Vs..if I was even close to bein a Kobe fan I would def cop his kicks over JeBron’s any day of the week

ooh yea i see this dumb shit still refers to himself in the 3rd person

12.25.10 at 11:53 am

s.bucketz

merry christmas…happy holidays…and LETS GO KNICKS

12.25.10 at 12:09 pm

QQ

I would love to say that Kobe would absolutely obliterate Bron’s punk ass mouth… but the Heat are really playing great right now. Which just makes the game more exciting for cats like us.

But hey, I would STILL love to see Kobe put Lebron in his (ring-less) place AGAIN.